


let the melody shine (and cleanse my mind)

by niniadepapa



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-23
Updated: 2014-10-23
Packaged: 2018-02-22 08:31:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,691
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2501291
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/niniadepapa/pseuds/niniadepapa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>whenever ruby tags along to emma's sheriffing duties, things get interesting. and intense. that, too.</p>
            </blockquote>





	let the melody shine (and cleanse my mind)

**Author's Note:**

> red swan au for bisexual emma swan appreciation fortnight :D (because RED SWAN IS SO IMPORTANT TO ME)   
> title from the verve's "bittersweet symphony" (duh)

Emma had to remind herself that Ruby was, indeed, not her deputy - especially not when there were two sheriffs in town already. Though it was difficult to remember when she usually had the most fun when she tagged along.

And especially when the source of the complaint they had been asked to check out in an abandoned house at the end of some poorly illuminated street was none other than a litter of stray cats that had been causing havoc around their neighbors’ places. 

“Oh, God,” she whined as one of the cat’s eyes glinted in a dark corner when the light from her flashlight hit him, and Ruby clapped behind her, ecstatic.

“Oh, God!”

She turned towards her with a frown. “Really? I thought you were more of a dog person.”

Ruby shrugged unapologetically, sweeping her arm out signaling the running cats through the dusty floor. “I am. But look at them!”

Emma followed her gaze, unimpressed and trying not to find Ruby’s fascination with all kinds of animals too endearing. “I am.” A dark shape propped against the wall caught her eye when her light chased one of the kittens. She approached it with wary eyes, until she stood feet from it, and she gasped. “Wait - is that...?”

“Oh, _God_!”

“You said that already,” Emma huffed as Ruby passed her and rushed to take a sit on the bench, not caring one bit about the puff of dust that erupted from it as soon as she did. Ruby ignored her, cracking her fingers and pulling up the lid of the abandoned piano, revealing the keys, glinting shiny and pearly in the dim light in the room. 

“I haven’t played in a lifetime,” Ruby admitted, but after an experimental touch with her right hand to see if it still worked, she played a quiet tune. She turned to look at Emma over her shoulder, grinning radiantly, and Emma bit down the urge to voice how the instrument had most definitely gone out of tune due to lack of use. 

Instead, Emma smiled back, her heart stuttering inside her chest.   

Ruby tried another short song, now with both hands, chewing her lip in concentration. Besides some shaky finger and a couple of notes that didn’t give out any sound unless she pressed hard on the key, her performance was quite alright, and Emma clapped quietly, lips curling in a soft smile as Ruby stood up and bowed theatrically, all long arms and elegant fingers and bright lips. 

“I hadn't pegged you as a music person, either,” she commented, and Ruby shrugged, flexing her hands knowingly.

“I’m no Mozart but I can pull off easy short pieces.”

She cocked her head to the side, studying her curiously. “Where did you learn? Did Regina’s curse give you musical talent too?”

Snorting, Ruby shook her head and rolled her eyes at her, and Emma scowled. It wasn’t _that_ weird to think about - some of the cursed citizens had gotten PhDs, for fuck’s sake. 

As she swept her fingers over the keys slowly, Ruby tilted her head, not meeting her eyes. “I thought it’d be something fun to do with the kids at the hospital.” 

Emma felt a tug in her chest, because _damn_. She knew Ruby had been visiting the hospital to volunteer and even finding time to take care of some of the lost boys they had brought from Neverland, but it still surprised her to find out the lengths she went to make them happy.

She shouldn’t have been so surprised, she guessed. That was what Ruby did - she genuinely _cared_ for people.  

“That’s very sweet,” she finally managed to say, and she felt herself warm all over as she noticed the slight blush tinting her cheeks. Ruby’s gaze fell on the valley of dark and light keys, sighing, her expression wistful and sad.

“Back home, sometimes, when I sneaked off to meet Peter, we’d meet at this tavern and he’d teach me some too. He was a great teacher.”

A lonely note the only sound in the charged room as her finger pressed a key, - a flat E, she thought, - Emma gulped, insecure of what to do or say. She had heard about Ruby’s past, her mom and Ruby’s mom and their pack and Peter and Granny; yet Ruby seemed so cheerful and upbeat and loving all the time, it was easy to believe that past was just that. A sad story, words read over pages or whispered in the dark, not a girl’s memories.

Shuffling her feet awkwardly, she struggled with her voice for a second. “He did a great job.”

Shaking her head as if to wave away her gloomy thoughts, Ruby whirled around and offered her hand. “Come here.”

She stiffened. “Nah, it’ll collapse.”

Ruby rolled her eyes, hands immediately going to her hips. “It’s not gonna bite Emma. Unlike me,” she added with a crooked grin, and Emma snorted against her will. She stepped back, jerking her chin in the direction they had seen last one of the cats run to. 

“Wouldn’t you rather check out the cats?”

Ruby frowned, looking over at her carefully, and Emma pursed her lips, annoyed with herself for being so obvious. 

“Emma?”

She huffed, and gave in, not without grumbling under her breath, “Fine.”

With careful steps, she approached the bench that Ruby had earlier vacated, noticing the lingering warmth of her body as she took a seat. She rolled her shoulders, cracking her neck, unaware of the strange look Ruby kept throwing at her, frown marring her forehead. 

It had been a _long_ time since she had been in front of a piano. 

Her fingers hesitantly brushed the keys, getting acquainted with their weight and color and touch. She pressed one reluctantly, and her hand, as a perfectly-oiled machine, curved to accommodate a chord. She lightly put pressure on them, not a sound coming out, and her feet stepped on the right pedal until a new string of sounds hummed softly in the air. 

 _The harmonics_ , she remembered.

Her left hand followed the right, settling a lower octave, and without warning, she started to play - some inconsequential piece, not overly challenging. Short, easy, fun. She only doubted at one moment, and her resolver almost broke down at her indecision, the chord not sounding right, and her fingers scrambled to continue, rushing the tempo and fleeing the keys as soon as she was done as if they had burned her. Her chest felt tight, and she took a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself.

Ruby’s voice brought her back. “Wow.”

“I don’t even -” She shook her head, swatting at a curl that had fallen over her face. She eyed Ruby, who was looking concernedly at her, and prayed for her voice not to shake too much as she explained. (It was the least she could do after Ruby had). 

“One family I stayed with for a time had a piano and let me play; the mom was really nice and she said I had a good ear for music, and when I eventually moved, the new family had another but they...” she choked - on her words, on her memories; her foster father’s angry roar that time he found her sitting at their piano, the silent plea a younger Emma sent to his wife, who just stared, mute, too afraid herself to say anything.

Rationally, compared to everything she’d ever been through, it wasn’t _that_ big of a deal, she guessed. But there was something there - something about finding something she realized she appeared to be good at and that she actually _enjoyed_ , being ripped away from her. Not even when she lived in Boston she’d considered taking classes or buying an instrument for herself. It hurt too much.

She noticed Ruby approaching her with hesitant steps, until she came to stand at her side. With a soft push, she maneuvered them until they were sitting side by side, arms brushing. Without a word, Ruby settled her hands over the left side of the piano, and started a quiet song. As Emma looked at her, Ruby met her eyes, nodding at her encouragingly. With trembling fingers, Emma followed her, her own hands not really knowing what to do. She had never played with someone else before, nor was she the biggest improviser. Yet there was something free and magical, as her left hand sometimes bumped Ruby’s right one, and they giggled softly; they had no idea what they were doing, one’s tempo rushing as the other’s slowed, chords sometimes clashing and keys that wouldn’t cooperate, but to Emma’s ear, it was beautiful.

 _Harmony_. 

She drew back once the last note hung in the air for a while, and Ruby leaned her head on her shoulder. Without warning, Emma’s fingers laced with hers, her index tapping Ruby’s. She could feel Ruby’s slight shiver at the contact, and she wondered if the hammering of their hearts counted as music as well.

She was inclined to think so.

Ruby’s lips sought hers, and she pressed a light kiss on hers, soft and inviting and sweet, the taste of cherries and sugar heavy on her tongue as she swept it over her lips. A soft sigh escaped her mouth, the kiss turning heavy, intense, world-shattering. She grinned against Ruby’s mouth, their lips moving together as smoothly as their fingers had on the keyboard minutes before.

They pulled back from each other, head spinning, and Emma breathed out, long and ragged, her fingers clasping Ruby’s even tighter. Ruby just squeezed her hand back, giving her a minute to recuperate, and with a tug, she pulled her up until they were both standing. She led her towards the battered door they had come through earlier, arms snaked around each other’s waist, footsteps paused and peaceful, just like something had connected, clicked - found home.

 _Harmony_.

“Are you sure you don’t want to take a cat with you?”

“Are you kidding? I’m coming back tomorrow for those little cuties.”

Emma laughed, a tinkling, rich sound that sounded far better when combined with Ruby’s. It’s all about harmony, really. 

 


End file.
